It should no longer be presumed that all parents are entitled to have contact with their children in cases of domestic abuse, says Sir Justice Cobb

Published 6th February 2017

Practice Direction 12J FPR 2010 which allows parents to see their children, without taking into account history of domestic abuse, has been urged to be changed without hesitation.

Mr Justice Cobb has recommended the presumption in family law that there should be “contact at all costs” with both parents, without an evaluation of the risk of harm from domestic abuse, should be removed. This has arisen after talks with Women’s Aid, where Mr Justice Cobb has outlined a reform which aims to end this presumption in cases of domestic violence where by having a parent in a child’s life would place the child at risk of harm. Polly Neate, director of Women’s Aid has said “We urge the Family Procedure Rule Committee, and Lord Chancellor and secretary of state for justice, Liz Truss MP, to agree the new practice direction, with all of the changes set out by Mr Justice Cobb, without delay.” In Justice Cobbs report, he has recommended that in a case where domestic abuse has previously been proven, a court should carry out a safety and risk assessment conducted by a specialist domestic abuse practitioner. Further to this, he believes if a risk assessment concludes that a parent is considered a risk to their child, contact should not be allowed.

These concerns have arisen from a Women’s Aid report in 2016, ‘Nineteen Child Homicides: What must change so children are put first in child contact arrangements and the family courts’, which outlined that 19 children have been killed in the last 10 years by their violent fathers after they have been given contact by family courts. Justice Cobb has expressed that judges should be ‘more alert to the issue of domestic violence’ and therefore should remove the presumption.

If you have a case of domestic abuse or family matter and would like trusted, quality and affordable solicitors to represent you then please explore our website for more information or call us on 0207 263 7887.

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